Residents concerned about speeding in alley

Residents in the area between Olive Street and Central Avenue on the south and north, and Baker Street and Francis Street on the west and east, say people are speeding in the alley between Olive and Central, causing a hazard.

Residents in the area between Olive Street and Central Avenue on the south and north, and Baker Street and Francis Street on the west and east, say people are speeding in the alley between Olive and Central, causing a hazard.

The Carthage City Council's Public Safety Committee agreed to a plan, proposed by Community Policing Officer Dan Fox to place a “speed hump” in the alley between Florence and Center streets to try to slow traffic to the speed limit, which is 15 miles per hour.

The department is currently focused on the area as its latest six-month community policing effort.

Fox told the committee that, in his door-to-door canvass of the area, residents said people, including some employees of businesses on Central, were speeding through the alley and some were not stopping for the streets that cross the alley.

Fox said the department placed one of its speed monitoring signs, running in “stealth mode,” meaning it was not displaying speed or warning driver they were exceeding the limit, in the alley, and found that the alley was being used as many as 45 times in a day.

It also found that some people were traveling the alley at 25 miles per hour, 10 miles over the speed limit.

Fox recommended the city place a speed hump in the alley as opposed to a speed bump, as was placed in the alley behind the Boots Motel.

He said a speed hump is designed to be lower and wider than a speed bump so traffic has to slow when traveling over it. Speed bumps are designed so traffic has to stop and travel over it very slowly or risk hitting the undercarriage of the vehicle.

He said rubber and plastic speed humps can be purchased, but an asphalt speed hump can also be installed, using about $45 worth of asphalt.

Fox said if the speed hump works in that alley, it could be used in other alleys as needed.

The public safety committee referred the proposal to the public works committee to create the specifics of the speed hump.

In other business, the committee recommended the full council accept the annual Missouri Department of Transportation grant for $3,125 to pay overtime for Carthage police officers to conduct DWI checkpoints and other extra enforcement.